According to Temple Grandin, there’s more of a connection than you might think. In fact, she says craft beer may be the model for beef’s success in a changing world, reports Bloomberg.

“There’s a fight going on between the people that know we’ve got to move the industry forward and the people that just are living in the box,” the renowned Colorado State University professor said. “The industry’s got to let the more progressive people win, or they’re going to be in trouble.”

Heifers born in the first half of the calving season should be more physiologically mature and thus more likely to be pubertal. However, Bruce Carpenter, Texas A&M University animal science associate professor and Extension livestock specialist, pointed out a lot of mitigating circumstances often make this a flawed and inefficient approach.

“A lot of the pastures in extensive ranch systems are big, and labor is not available to watch each cow and record calving dates,” Carpenter explained. “Seeing those cattle is pretty challenging sometimes, so you don’t usually know calving dates.”

Ted Matthews has a tough job. But not as tough as the people he talks to—farmers who are contemplating suicide, or family members trying to pick up the pieces afterward. And the worst part? He says it’s scary how many calls he gets from all over the country, reports Prairie Farmer.

And when he gets a call from an actual farmer contemplating suicide, you can bet that farmer didn’t call on his own. “First the vet called. Then I told the vet to have the son call. I explained to the son how to talk to the dad, to have him call me. He did. We talked, and things got better.”

USDA released its Sept. 1 Cattle on Feed report recently and Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University Extension livestock marketing economist, says overall, the report is in line with the trend that has been developing over the last several of these reports, indicating a growing supply of cattle coming into the pipeline that will need to be processed.

According to Peel, lightweight placements dominated total feedlot placements in this report and have since May. In the last four months, placements of cattle under 700 pounds have been up 13.2% year over year, while placements weighing over 700 pounds were down 1% year over year. Peel says lightweight placements since May will result in lighter and later fed marketings and may contribute to relatively tighter fed cattle supplies for the remainder of the year.

It’s no surprise that animal rights activist extremists are not fond of farmers and ranchers who raise animals. No matter how well the animals are treated under farmers’ care, it will never be enough for the activists because their goal is a world without meat, milk, poultry and eggs, according to the Animal Agriculture Alliance.

To protect your farm and animals from these extreme actions, here are a few things you can do:

2. Proactively connect with local law enforcement – let them know any concerns you have and ask for advice and protocol suggestions. Make sure they have access to maps of your facilities.

3. If you do encounter any suspicious activity, immediately report it to law enforcement and notify the Animal Agriculture Alliance and your state commodity association. This could be anything from someone trying to get hired on your farm with dishonest intentions to a drone flying overhead.